User blog:Battlefan237/Minor WW2 Allies : Josip Broz Tito vs. Alexander Papagos
Caution : This is not a war propaganda. ''' Balkan Peninsular, aka the gun powder barrel of Europe, has always been a harsh land where the most brutal wars in our history took place. Rome, Hungry, Mongolia, Ottoman....It has witnessed the rise and fall of dozens of the greatest empires ever existed throughout thousands of years of fighting and killing. Things didn't get better in 20th century, when this particular peninsular became the cradle of the first world war, and one of the major battlefields of the second. Though tormented by killings and invasions, people on this peninsular have shown their courage and willpower to defend their dignity from any forms of marauding and suppress. From Bulgarian Rebels and Romanian Rebels in the early days to that angry young man named Gavrilo Princip, and to our warriors today : '''Josip Broz Tito, the Yugoslavian Communist leader who led founded the Partisan to battle against Nazis in the forests of Serbia; and Alexander Papagos, the Greek Field Marshal who led the Hellenic Army and drove Mussolini's troops in blackshirts out of their motherland. When they face each other, who will win ? Josip Broz Tito Born in a low-income family in present-day Northern Croatia, Joip Broz Tito, born Josip Broz, was forced to join the Austro-Hungarian army in 1913 and received practical training in combats. In 1915 he was captured as a prisoner during a battle against Russian Troops. During this period of time, he got overwhelmed by Russian Revolution which led him to believe in the idea of Communism. In 1920 he joined the local communist party in Yugoslavia, and became a key member of it in 1934. In 1940 he was elected to be the party leader. In 1941, the King of Yugoslavia gave in and surrendered to Nazi Germany, which suggested that Yugoslavia was no longer a nation any more. Tito, who was obviously not satisfied with the result, established his own guerrilla army called the Partisans in order to fight against German invaders. Being aware of the fact that there's no possibility for them to combat the Germans face to face, Tito used the guerrilla tactic to slow down German invasion by attacking key traffic lines and harassing German-occupied cities. Though many of the acts were proven to be successful, the guerrilla led by Tito wasn't capable of handling the Germans due to the lack of firearms and resources. However their victory was ensured by frequent Soviet assistance and Axis failures in Africa and Russia. They also lliberated Belgrade and a few other major cities on their own with supply from Soviet. In brief, the impact on Germans made by Tito and his guerrillas is insignificant when compared with that of the Soviet Union or United States, their efforts in slowing down the Germans did made sense for their frequent activities of blowing up railways and bridges caused disorder under the German-ruled Balkan. This also helped slow down the phase of Germany's occupation of other parts of Balkan, which of course helped nations like Greece to hold on longer against Germans and Italians. For more information about the Partisans , you can check out here if you want : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_Front. Now here're Tito's weapons : *Melee: NR-40 Combat Knife. A weapon originated from USSR, with a 152 mm blade with a clip point, a large choil, a black wooden handle, and an S-shaped guard. *Pistol:' Ruby Pistol.' Straightly taken from Federal Army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 9 rounds, range unspecified. *Rifle: M24 Mauser. '''Bolt-Action, effective range 500m, muzzle velocity 2493 ft/s. 5-round stripper clip with internal magazine. *SMG: '''PPSh-41. Comes from vast Soviet assistance. 900-1000 r/min with 35-round box. Effective range 120-150m. Muzzle Velocity 448m/s. *MG: ZB. Vz. 26. 500 rounds/min. 20 rounds detachable box magazine. A weapon from Czechoslovakia ( Formally). *Grenade: Classic''' Model 24 Grenade'. Jbt.jpg|Marshal Josip Broz Tito Knife nr40 ussr.jpg|NR-40 300px-MWP Ruby Cebra-mod.jpg|Ruby Pistol M1924_Yugoslavian.JPG|M1924 Rifle PPSH-01-SMG.jpg|PPSh-41 ZB_vz._26_at_Great_Patriotic_War_museum_in_Smolensk.jpg|ZB.VZ.26 400px-M24handgrenade.JPG|Model 24 Grenade ( I feel like mentioning this weapon a lot) Alexander Papagos 'Marshal Alexander Papagos''' was a Greek Field Marshal who led the Hellenic army during World War Two. Papagos was appointed as the ground force commander of Greece in the Battle of Greece, in which the Greek army succeeded in defending their motherland from Fascist Italian Army and driving the Italian troops back into Albania. Which caught the attention of Hitler, who sent elite German troops to assist the Italians. Tough the Greek lost the battle after German intervention, they managed to put on a decent fight lasting 24 days with bravery which was praised by Winston Churchill and even the Nazis. Then Papagos retrieved the Greek army onto Crete Island and continued his struggle against Nazis and Italians, which also made great impact on Axis troops, even slowing down the step of Operation Barbarossa. Rumor has it that more German soldiers died on Crete Island than in France and other parts of Western Europe excluding Great Britain. The impact made by Greece on Axis was great indeed. Not only did the Italians got their ass kicked, but also did the German suffered heavy casualties on Balkan, which ruined Hitler's ambition of conquering Balkan with ease as he did in Poland, France and Denmark. After WW2, Papagos led the final victory of government force over Greek Communist Guerrillas and was elected as the president of Greece in 1951. Presently, the Athens suburb of Papagou, where the Greek Ministry of Defence is located, is named after him to honor his achievements. For more information about Greece and Papagos in WW2 , please check out here :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Greece_during_World_War_II. Now let's see what he brings in this fight : *Melee : Bayonet. *Pistol:' Nagant M1895'. 7 rounds, range 46m. *Rifle: Mannlicher–Schönauer rifle. Seriously I can't pronounce this. Bolt-action, effective range 650m, 5 rounds rotary magazine, muzzle velocity 2223 ft/s. *SMG: Sten. '''Aid from Great Britain with 32-round box. 500-600 rounds per min. Muzzle velocity 365m/s. *MG: '''Bren Light Machine Gun. '''500-520 rounds/min. 30 rounds magazine. *Grenade: '''Breda Model 35 Grenade. Alexandros Papagos.jpg|President Alexander Papagos Pattern 1907 Sword Bayonet.jpg|Random Bayonet 400px-Nagant-1895.jpg|Nagant 1895 300px-Mannlicher_schoennauer_1903-14.jpg|Can't pronounce it rifle Sten Gun.jpg|Sten Brenlmg.jpg|Bren Bomba_breda_35.jpg|Breda M35 X-factors: Tito-Papagos *Training : 65-80. Tito himself was trained in the Austro-Hungrian Army and used to be quite a good soldier. However the Partisan consisted of trained soldiers from Royal Yugoslavian Army as well as large number of untrained or not-so-well-trained young men forced to defend their towns and villages. While Papagos and his Hellenic Army were actual military force. *Experience: 89-72. Tito and his men mainly fought the Germans, while still fighting against Italians, Bulgarians, The Nazi-Supported government of Yugoslavia , Ustases, Hungarians, and Nazi flops in Albania and other occupied regions, which means they had to switch their tactics against various opponents.Also Tito and his Partisans engaged in the war far earlier than the Greeks and stood against multiple waves of German attempts to eliminate them ( all failed). While the Greek mainly fought Italians, as well as Germans and Bulgarian, which could not out match Tito's experience against more types and more waves of enemies. *Logistic: 70-83. The Hellenic Army is an actual army, and was constantly supplied by Britain and France. While Tito's guerrillas received help from Russians and captured vast amounts of firearms from Nazis, the amounts of which were less than that of the Hellenic Army. *Stealth:90-73. No contest. Tito's men are guerrillas, who are determined to be extremely stealthy so that they could blow up railways and garages without being noticed or captured by guards. While the Greek mainly fought face-to-face against Italians. However it's important to strengthen that the Greek also participated in certain degree of guerrilla fighting in Athens and Crete. *Brutality: 90-86. The Greek put on brutal fights against Nazis, but the Slavians faced more war crimes and massacres, some of the Partisans even eyewitnessed their family members, neighbours and friends get slaughtered by Ustases and Nazis, while some Partisans also committed war crime against captured prisoners and German people in Slavia. *Loyalty: 100-100. Both are defending their hometowns with confidence and rage. Battle Josip Broz Tito : x 10 Alexander Papagos : x 10 Northern Albania Border, 1943, alternated timeline A truck with several people dressed in local fashion but spoke with heavy accents on board pulled over at the patrol station outside the town where the Hellenic Army had just took over from the Italians. The Greek soldier at guard, who was grew suspicious of the content of those large boxes on the truck, went on to check them. The truck driver made an attempt to stop him, the soldier shrugged him off and went straight for the box. Realizing his efforts were in vain, drew out an NR-40 combat knife from his pocket and stabbed the soldier in the back . Witnessing his friend getting killed, the other soldier took aim with his Mannlicher rifle and pumped a shot into the driver, causing him to fall over . Other passengers on the truck , who turned out to be a group Yugoslavian Partisans led by Tito, opened fire with Ruby pistols and M1924 rifles, instantly riddled the soldier with bloody holes . Two other Greek soldiers that were in charge of the machine gun let out a string of deadly ammo roars from the Bren, hurling one of the Partisan over the box, while seriously injured another . Tito sheltered himself behind the truck, and tossed a Model 24 Grenade towards the machine gun. The bomb landed right next to the machine gunpoint, blasting out the spot. Immediately up flown the body parts and segments of the machine gun into the sky . Regardless of the loss of comrades, Tito ordered the rest to drive on so that they could accomplish their original mission--assassinating the leader of the occupational force in this town. Little did they realize that it was not Italian forces they were facing, but the Hellenic Army from the south. Meanwhile, in the town center, Papagos and his fellow men rested in a bar. They chatted with ease and relax, with no idea of the massacre took place in the patrol station a few minutes ago. It was also clear that they had not yet visualized the fact that they were in the center of a death trap set by Partisan forces that mistook them as Italians. The bar owner and several other guests present at the scene were all Partisans in disguise. Suddenly a soldier sensed something out of ordinary. Two customers sitting nearby constantly glanced at Marshal Papagos on purpose, while they kept whispering to each other in a low voice, and acted sneakily as if they didn't want them to notice their uncommon behaviors. The soldier walked up to the two men, while all in a sudden one of the man frowned and quickly put his hand towards his pocket. The soldier immediately did the same, both drew out their pistols and fired, but the Ruby was slightly faster and shot the soldier four times on the chest and soldier . Papagos got up and fired his Nagant on the forehead of the man, killing him instantly . The other man wanted to shoot back, but another Greek sprayed him down from the back with his Sten. Other customers began to scream and scatter, while the bar owner silently turned back into the kitchen and open the cupboard, revealing a PPSh-41 hidden inside. During the bar owner's absence, all the other Partisans revealed their identities and went on shooting spree with their pistols and rifles. Due to the lack of training, most of them were just blind-firing at random spots, while Papagos and his men managed to take aim carefully with Nagant and rifles under tables and chairs, shooting a Partisan on the crotch as well as raining down another with Sten . The final partisan fled from the back door while the Greeks were in hot pursuit. At this very moment, the bar owner rushed out of the kitchen door and roared out his Soviet killing tool, sending a Greek soldier flying over the oven while raining down another out of the window . Papagos and his last two men once again turned two tables and chairs for help. However one of them who had grenades in hand rolled a Breda M35 to the kitchen. The bar owner was a hot-headed man that had devoted himself to spraying, so he took little notice of the strange rolling sound, until he saw the grenade located at his feet. Hardly did he have time to figure out what the hell had happened when the bomb went of and teared him apart . Papagos led his final men to chase the escaped partisan. When the rushed out of the bar, they saw the partisan standing on the opposite side of the street and gazing around as if he had been waiting for someone else. A Greek soldier immediately went for the Partisan, but the Partisan took out his pistol. Scarcely did the partisan realize he was out of ammo when the Greek soldier took him down with his Sten . The soldier turned back to signal Papagos that everything went right, but a truck suddenly ran towards him and crashed into the poor man, sending him a few feet away. The soldier pointed at the truck and wanted to scold the driver for his amateur way of driving, but he didn't get that chance. Tito opened the box on the truck and revealed the VZ.24 hidden inside and sprayed down the soldier . While Tito and his two men were busy turning the machine gun around, the last Greek soldier took chance pumping a Partisan in the chest with his rifle, only to expose himself in the bullet rain and get wasted . Papagos quickly edged himself back into the bar and hid himself behind the remain of the counter. Tito and his last men entered the bar, believing that victory was theirs. Tito went searching inside the kitchen, while the last Partisan was left in charge of the room. He went for the front door and found nobody running outside.In this way, he realized that Papagos must be hiding somewhere inside this bar. He kicked over a pile of broken tables and chairs, revealing dead bodies of his comrades. All in a sudden, he saw a Greek army head swinging out of the counter. He turned to it and shot out the five remaining rounds of his ruby. Then he grabbed up a table leg and went for the spot. As he leaned down over the counter, a pair of hands emerged and clutched at his neck, followed by a bayonet stab . "AHHHH!" Screamed the partisan. Tito came out of the kitchen with M24 rifle in hand, only to receive blows from the PPSh-41 rifle dropped on the ground by the dead bar owner. Tito tumbled back and fell onto the kitchen table, as he gasped out streams of bloods. The Yugoslavian Revolutionist met his end as the prey of weapons carried by his own men . Papagos, who had picked up the discarded PPSh-41 for defense, finally sighed in relief and sorrow. Losing all of his men, he felt sorry and painful for his Hellenic motherland. However, finally defeating the enemy, the field marshal shouted "Victory" in Greek to revenge for his fallen fellowmen before going out and contacting Hellenic army base outside the town for help. Winner : Alexander Papagos. Expert's Opinion Though Tito has better weapons and is a master of guerrilla tactics, the fact that his men are mostly local residents and farmers who are lack of t training pulls him back in this fight. While on the other hand, Papagos and his men were all professional soldiers who have made great impact on both Germans and Communist guerrillas like Tito . In this way, Papagos gets the upper hand in this fight ! Category:Blog posts